erdbpro

ERD Builder Pro CLI — one command to start your database design workspace.

npx erdbpro

No config. No setup. No Docker required. Just Node.js 18+.

Quick Start

# Install globally
npm install -g erdbpro

# Start (opens browser at localhost:3101)
erdbpro

Login with:

• Email: [email protected]
• Password: admin123

Data stored in ~/.erdbpro/ (SQLite). Zero config, always ready.

Interactive Menu

After starting, you'll see an interactive menu you can navigate with arrow keys:

========================================
  ERD Builder Pro (v2.5.2)
  🚀 Server: http://localhost:3101
========================================

 ▶ Web UI (Open in Browser)
   Hide to Background
   Exit

  ↑↓ move  Enter select  q quit

• ↑↓ — move the ▶ selector up or down
• Enter — execute the selected action
• After an action (e.g. opening the browser), press Enter to return to the menu
• q or Ctrl+C — exit immediately

Menu Options

| Option | What it does | |--------|--------------| | Web UI | Opens the app in your default browser at http://localhost:3101 | | Hide to Background | Detaches the server to run silently. Stop with erdbpro stop. | | Exit | Stops the server and exits the CLI |

You can also bypass the menu entirely:

erdbpro start --background   # Start silently, no menu
erdbpro start --open         # Open browser immediately, no menu

Commands

erdbpro                          # Start server + interactive menu
erdbpro start                    # Same as above
erdbpro start --background       # Run in background (detached)
erdbpro start --open             # Skip menu, open browser immediately
erdbpro start --port 4000        # Custom port
erdbpro start --force            # Restart if already running
erdbpro stop                     # Stop background server
erdbpro status                   # Check if server is running

Database

SQLite only. Database created automatically in ~/.erdbpro/data.db. No configuration needed.

Need PostgreSQL? Use the Docker image instead:

docker run -p 3101:3101 -e DATABASE_URL=postgresql://... bekenweb/erd-builder-pro

The CLI distribution keeps things simple — SQLite is fast, portable, and requires zero setup. Docker and desktop (Tauri) builds support PostgreSQL for production use.

Port

Default: 3101 (avoids conflicts with dev server on 3098 and desktop app on 3099).

Background Mode

erdbpro start --background
erdbpro status              # → ✅ Server running (PID: 12345)
erdbpro stop                # → 🛑 Server stopped

PID file stored at ~/.erdbpro/server.pid. Auto-cleaned on stop or stale detection.

Update

npm update -g erdbpro
erdbpro start --force       # Stop old + start new

Amber dot badge appears on the nav-user avatar in the web app when a newer version is available.

Features

All features identical to the desktop app:

• ERD Diagrams — design database schemas with React Flow
• Flowcharts — create flowcharts with multiple node shapes
• Notes — rich text editing with Tiptap
• Drawings — whiteboard with Excalidraw
• AI Assistant — chat with AI for SQL generation, flowchart creation, and more

Requirements

• Node.js 18+ (22 LTS recommended)
• macOS, Linux, or Windows

Files

~/.erdbpro/
  ├── data.db          # SQLite database
  ├── server.pid       # Background process PID
  └── logs/            # Server logs

Uninstall

npm uninstall -g erdbpro
rm -rf ~/.erdbpro

Built with React, Vite, Express, Prisma, and Commander.js.
GitHub